This frightened me. All I could think about was her shivering out in the woods nearby, afraid of every shadow. So I took Bella out and got her business out of the way. Then I searched again for her big sister ("big" being a relative term). No luck. I went outside and searched everywhere in the neighborhood around the house. Still no luck. I even took a very enthusiastic Bella out like a hound dog, encouraging her to find the scent and lead me to Peppy.
Still having no luck, I sent Allyson a message about it, wondering if there had been a vet visit I was unaware of or some such thing, but because of the building where she works, she was unable to receive it (I later learned). Eventually, I got a bit tired and plopped down on the couch to rest. I fell asleep, but woke up an hour later and searched again. I did this all night, until Allyson got home. When she didn't know of Peppy's location either (both dogs were in when she left), I got really worried. I began to put on my boots again for another search outside.
She searched the house. And, just as I was ready to do another sweep of the neighborhood, I heard "Peppy! What are you doing in here??" Peppy had been in her bedroom's shower, behind the curtain. It was the only place I didn't look. What a relief! All was back as it should be.
I was a little worn out from my anxiety and not getting enough sleep, but I had a coffee, and felt prepared for another day of exploration. The day was unusually hot; the temperature having climbed up into the 80's. Still, I left the house and walked down to Burger King to check how things were going online, but was suddenly overtaken with nausea. This was rare for me, and not a good sign. I felt that hot-stifling sensation and began to sweat. The only thing I could think to do was go back to Allyson's and lie down for a while.
Returning back, I did exactly that, napping for a few hours on the comfy couch. When I finally did get up, I just didn't have the motivation for one of my regular days, and instead decided to hang out with Allyson. We talked all the rest of the day and into the evening. It was GREAT! I had lost a day of exploration and gained a day of wonderful conversation; a good trade off, for sure.
So, what was I going to do about the next day's post? I figured I could come up with something. And, the following is the solution. The technical term for it might be "cheating", since I'll be going back to what I'd already wrote. Yet, I have had requests to do this before, and now seemed as good a time as any to fulfill those requests.
Therefore, here it is, my first post of highlights and reruns (in link form)...
* * * * * * *
PRE-JOURNEYS
ODYSSEY JOURNEY
IN BETWEEN JOURNEYS
A MANIFEST DESTINY JOURNEY
A LIVING MAGAZINE JOURNEY
* * * * * * *
As I compiled the above, I was struck by how much power a title has. The best example of this is my recent "The Lost Essay" post. It was kind of a throw-away post after losing my essay, but got an unusually large amount of views, while the "Duluth: The Superior Surprise" (a far more intricate, and much higher quality post the next day) got half the number of reads. Perhaps coming up with catchy titles is much more important than I thought it was.
Judging by reads alone, another phenomenon is quite apparent. People like problems. They go for controversy, pain and agony over peace and tranquility. That is not a complaint on my part. It is simply a fact borne out by statistical analysis.
Another interesting trend is that Americans go for personal reports, whereas the other dozen countries with IWALLK readers - in a body - go for social issue commentaries. Broken down further, Europeans like art and architecture, Americans and Australians like plants and animals, Asians like cultural references, and the British go for humor. ALL like adventure.
Finally, I should say that if you used to read my Facebook posts during the "Manifest Destiny" Journey and think that there were better ones than I listed--and think they should have been more popular, you are probably right on target. An enormous amount of Facebook people read the posts about me finding the injured dog in Missouri, a story which never made the transfer to the blog from Facebook. Additionally, my time there with Glenn and Rita Romines had very few views on the blog, since it was transferred over from Facebook long after I finished that same journey. Glenn's invitation to tour the New Life compound, similarly was a huge success at Facebook, but the blog stats don't reflect it.
It is a fascinating process to examine all these things for myself. Frankly, I can't figure out exactly what you guys like most and what you don't. My mom gave the best advice when I mentioned this to her. She basically said to just keep writing on what I think is important and trust my instincts. Short of everyone suddenly telling me what they look for in my posts, I will follow that advice.
I love you guys for being yourselves. I'm hoping that perhaps, if I'm lucky, you will continue to enjoy this blog because I am being myself--trying to wear my soul on the outside.
Only two words come to mind after nearly a year of doing all these "crazy things"...
THANK YOU!
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